Stuart gwynn



i rolls.

'UNITED STA'I'ES'PATENT OFFICE.

srUART-GWYNN, oF-Nnw YORK, N. Y.

MAcHlNEl-'OR coNsTRucTlNe VEGETABLE MEMBRANE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent NO. 88,035, datcd March 23,1869.

Be it known that I, STUART GWYNN, of the city, county, and State of NewYork, have invented new and useful machinery and apparatus combined,which I have named, A Transforming-Machine,77 to be used in themanufacture of a new composition of matter named Vegetable Membrane andI do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the construction and mode of operating the same, reference being hadto the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which thesaid machinery and apparatus combined are shown in sectionalelevations-- i Figure 1 being a longitudinal section elevation of theaffair as arranged to make twop1y77 Vegeta-ble membrane web;7 with anaddition thereto in dotted lines, which, if added, would enable four-plyweb to be made on it. Any additional number desired of the parts shownby the dotted lines may be added. Fig. 2 is a cross view of the machineor side clevation of this special part of a U-shaped perforated pipe. i

Al A A2 A are four tanks, of which A1 is to contain thetransforming-fluid, and AZ the nentralizing-fluid.77 These fluids arefully described and the method of the preparation and mode of use inLetters Patent No; 73,322, granted to me January 14, 1868. A A,washwater. B is a roller made of thick Sheet-lead, or any other suitablematerial that will not be acted on by the fluid in which it revolves. DD1, D D2, D D3, and D D4 are pairs of squeezimg-rollers.,7 I prefer themmade of vulcanized rubber. E and F are rolls of felt web,77 mounted 011suitable axes, from which it un- I is a blue line, showing thetransformed web7 as it passes on and through the wash-waters andneutralizing-fluid, and fin ally over the steam-heated drying-rolls Jand J 1,

and is rolled up on roller K.

The yellow line G is the felt web passin g in contact with roller B,from which it takes off enough of the transforming-fiuid, in which theroller B revolves, to transform that web G, and also web H, representedby the green line. As soon as these two webs have passed through thefirst pair of squeezing-rollers, D D', they are united, and indissolublymake one transformed web, by the use of the transforming-fluid containedin tank A1.

N in Fig. 1, and N, Fig. 2, are perforated U-pipes, the holes being inthe inner side of the limbs of the U. Water is ejected from these holeswith force against the continuous web of vegetable membrane as it passcsslowly through the fiuids and between the limbs of the U-pipes. 4

L L Liin tanks A, A2, and A are plain bearing-rollers, used to keep theweb im mersed in the fluid.

Suitable gearin g, or an arrangement of belts, actuate the variousrollers at the speeds required. These are not required to be shown, asthey may be varied to suit each man's Wish, and as no invention isrequired to apply the variety chosen.`

The method pursued in transforming the web;7 and manner of using thiscombined machinery and apparatus, will be fully understood from thefollowing brief description of the mode of using the same.

Aweb two feet wide and one thousand feet in length should not exceedeight pounds in weight. It is made in rolls of from live thousand(5,000) to ten thousand (10,000) feet in length, the former the mostdesirable to handle.

The method of manufacture must be variedJ` W to suit the particularpurpose for which the vegetable membrane77 is to be used. Broadly, itmay be described thus: The transformin g-fluid is evenly spread over oneor both surfaces of the felt, by transference from a lead or othersuitable roller, charged by rotating slowly on its axis, immersedone-third its diameter in the tran sforming-fluid, held in a suitabletank, in which the fluid is maintained at a uniform level by aself-acting si phon or other suitable device. To make the vegetablemembrane threefold thickness, I find it necessary only to spread thefluid on one side or surface of two of the webs.

From the lead transference roller the webs pass slowly forward, keptfrom touching each other for from fifteen to seventy-five seconds,dependin g 011 circumstances. They now pass altogcther between the firstset of compressing-rollers, and thence into and through a long tank ofwater; thence, as the threefold web rises out of the tank, betweenY-shaped pipes, perforated 011 their inner sides, from whichperforations issue jets of pure water,

and thence through the second setof compressing-rollers; thence into along tank, suitably lined, containing a dilute mixture of theneutralizing-fiuid in water of about the proportions of one part of theformer to ten parts of the latter. As the web rises out of this tank itpasses through another set of compressing-rollers, set quite tight,which squeeze out all the fluid that the web will part with Without arupture of itsitexture. The web next passes into another tank of water,over and under rollers submerged therein, and as it rises from this tankit passes between another Y water-pipe, to finish washing out the salineand other soluble foreign m atters 3 thence through another set ofcompressing-rollers, and, finally, around one, two, or more steamdryingrolls. When it is used between or as a covering to textile fabrics,cementing, calendering, &c., in addition, will be required.

When the thickness required is more than fivefold, it will be found moredesirable to pass transformed77 web, made up of two, three, four, orfive thicknesses, a second time through the apparatus and machinery,than to make it thicker at one operation, although I have made it asthick as sixteenfold at one operation. Thus, to make sixteenfold, Iprefer to make fourfold webs, and then unite four of them by passingthem through a second operation.

To attach firmly and permanently Vegetable membrane self to self, nocement other than the transforming-fluid is required; but to put itbetween or as a covering to textile fabrics, &c., marine glue and othercementing materials, each adapted to the special purpose, will berequired.

Thus, any person skilled in the arts of chemistry and paper-making willreadily understand how to operate the combined machinery and apparatus.

Having fully described the combined machinery and apparatus, what Ielaim is-- 1. Machinery and apparatus combined, containing the variousmembers of an organization equivalent to that herein described, by theuse of which like results can be obtained in the manufacture ofvegetablemembrane, andany other analogous composition of matter.

2. The separate members of the organization of machinery and apparatus,if used for the purpose described, or when combined with any othermachinery, if the combination is used for an equivalent manufacture.

STUART GWYNE.

Witnesses DnvlLLE N. ADMS, E. AYERs.

